Siths and Jedis and droids, oh my!

Well, things finally calmed down enough for me to start some semi-regular posting again. A political and a Disney thing or two will hit in the next day or two, but I figured I better touch on Star Wars first, since that's the topic of the moment.

I'm one of those old guys that saw all three original films first-run in the theatres. I was seven when the first one dropped. To make me feel really old... Since I arrived a little early for the film and was killing time waiting for the rest of my party to arrive, I ventured across the street from our downtown Franklin theatre to enjoy a cool, frosty Guinness on the porch at the downtown Irish pub. Upon ordering, I got into a discussion with the waitress who informed me that she had seen the movie a few days prior and really enjoyed it. As I placed my order, I asked her for a recommendation for one of the items on tap and she informed me that she didn't know, as she had just turned 21 and hadn't drinked prior, so she really had no information. After she left, the realization hit me... she hadn't been alive for any of the original trilogy. And she's now old enough to drink. Egads...

Anyway... I'm not a professional reviewer and don't claim to be, but on to the film. First, I really enjoyed it. Sure, the dialog and acting was still kind of wooden and thus the characters were hard to relate to and hard to feel sympathetic for. Really... how sympathetic can you be for dry, stiff, robotic super-powered Jedi getting killed? The love story also seemed forced for the same reasons. I miss the personality and characterization of the characters playing in the original movies, especially by Harrison Ford.

The action and special effects were very strong. The lightsaber duels were solid, although somewhat disjointed, and the various space-shots were well done. There was much less of the cartoony effects that plagued Episode One and Two. And Jar-Jar had only a very minimal, non-speaking role (Hooray!).

The storyline was pretty good, although it was pretty much written based on the other five movies. We pretty much knew where everything was headed... Anakin to Darth, twins born, Yoda and Ben surviving but heading to exile, Emperor takes over, yada-yada... They did a pretty good job filling in the details, with reasonable justifications for the actions that occurred (although Anakin's fall from good guy to child slaughterer seemed rather sudden).

There were many storyline plot holes so large that you can drive a Mack truck through, though:

• Leia's memories of Mama: Leia says she "died when I was very young," yet remembers "images, feelings. She was very beautiful, kind, but very sad." But in the new movie, Padme dies delivering the babies. There was something like 10 minutes of crossover times in their life.
• More Muddled Memories: In the original trilogy, Ben does not seem to recognize R2-D2 and C-3PO. Even more troubling, why wouldn't Anakin recognize the droid he built as a child? I can accept that C-3PO didn't remember these people (as well as his home planet) because of the comment that was made at the end of "Sith" relating to a mind-wipe, but why wouldn't these people remember him? Maybe people consider the droids to be appliances (like a coffee maker to us) and thus don't remember them like they would a person, but since they have made such a point to build relationships between the droids and the humans, that seems unlikely. Owen and Beru also don’t recognize C-3PO and R2D2 as the two droids who belonged to Anakin Skywalker. After Anakin created C-3PO, he left him with his mother on Tatooine when he left with the Jedi. When Shmi was sold out of slavery to Lar's family, she took C-3PO with her. Therefore, Lars knew C-3PO in "Clones." Years later, C-3PO returned to Tatooine and is reunited with Lars and Beru, they don't recognize him. He did have a shiny new paint job, but still had the same name. Even if they didn't distinctly remember the droid, I would think that he may pop back into their memory and that they would be troubled if he showed up on their farm looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• In Training: In "Empire," Kenobi tells Luke that he should go to Dagobah and seek Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed him. Also, When talking with Yoda, Ben refers to "when you taught me". But, when did Yoda train Obi-Wan? The new trilogy establishes that Qui-Gon was his master.
• Sponsored by Oil-of-Olay: In "Phantom Menace," Anakin starts out as a little kid, while Padme is at youngest a teenager. Let's say that there is 10 years or so between them. Then, through the magic of the Force, they appear to be close to the same age in the following movies. Obi Wan's timeline also seems askew, but definitely not as extreme... He looks in his early 30's in this movie (maybe in his 20's in "Menace"), and then looks 60+ in "New Hope," which by Luke's aging appears to be about 18 years. I understand that they were trying to make a young actor look older in "Sith," but he's either aging too fast before or after this movie...
• The Empire needs better contractors: At the end of "Sith," we get the parting shot of Vader and the Emperor watching the construction of the first Death Star. A neat shot indeed... This is presumably the Death Star from "New Hope," as the Rebels acted as if they had never seen a Death Star at the during the course of that movie. Thus, it took around 18-20 years to build that space station, as we are led to believe that this scene takes place at roughly the same time as Padme's funeral. Hey... this was a big project. With union requirements and the like, it may well take that long. Who am I to say? Yet, between "Empire Strikes Back" and "Jedi" (which pretty much butt up to each other timeline-wise), they are able to almost complete construction on a second Death Star. Guess they got better help that time...
  
• Padme, aren't you putting on some weight?: "When your father left, he didn't know your mother was pregnant. Your mother and I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible, for as long as possible." Well, either Ben is lying to Luke, or this is yet another inconsistent statement from the original trilogy. We know in "Sith" that Anakin at least knew that she was pregnant.
• Twins?: One would have to assume that medical technology in the "Star Wars" world would include ultrasounds or something similar and that Padme knew that she was having twins. She knew but didn't tell Anakin? Also, did she come up with the names out of the blue, or had she discussed with her husband? I know my wife is constantly giving me grief about helping with a name for our upcoming... I can only imagine that this was one of the unspoken contributing factors for Anakin's rush to the Dark Side. If he was privy to the baby-naming nightmare, wouldn't Darth have suspected Leia during their run-ins in the original trilogy, since that was the name they had selected for one of his children?
  
• Yet another thing on Leia: This is really an inconsistency of the original trilogy, but why couldn't Darth sense Leia like he could Luke? They're both his children and both strong in the force. Hmmm....
  
• Lightsaber quandry: In "A New Hope," Kenobi tells Luke that his father wanted him to have his lightsaber when he was older. How would Anakin know about Luke being alive? And when would he have conferred with Ben about the lightsaber?
• Our Only Hope: In Ben's discussion with Yoda after Luke flies from Dagobah, he states "that boy is our last hope," to which Yoda replies, "No there is another." Shouldn't Ben have known that as well, since he was around for the birth and knew that Senator Organa was taking Leia? He should have been able to sense the Force in her, shoudn't he?
• Hair-doos: OK, this one is a reach, but... Anakin does not recognize Leia's funky cinna-bun hairstyle as a retro look his own wife sported in "Sith." Maybe it was all the rage and all of the cool kids were wearing it...

I mean, would it have been to much to expect for them to hire someone and pay them a few bucks to read all of the new scripts and compare them to the old scripts (and maybe even the novelizations, comics, tv shows, etc.) and make sure everything ties up in a bow? I was available and would have been glad to take George's money!!! ;)

Even considering the things listed above, I found the movie to be enjoyable and it wrapped the life and death of Anakin up in a pretty satisfying fashion. Kudos to Lucas and the crew for salvaging the new trilogy in a much better fashion than I had expected after watching the past two messes...

Glad I didn't take that job with Disney...

Busy, busy week or so... Family concerns, end-of-schoolyear for the kids, and heavy work load lead to not many postings. Probably start getting back to a regular posting schedule in a week or so...

Anyway... Disney is laying off a boatload of IT people in FL, CA, and NY. About 1,000 of 3,000 total IT positions. Many employees "may be offered jobs elsewhere within Disney or will be laid off" and "most of the company's workers [who are laid off will] land jobs" with the company they are outsourcing the jobs to. So maybe it won't be so bad...

Considering the numerous times I had opportunities in CA and FL, I am certainly glad I'm where I am and not there...

Something I just discovered about myself...

There are at least two movies that, if I happen to flip channels and they are on, I must watch them to completion. Even though I have both on DVD. Office Space just came on Comedy Central... I can't turn it off. Must continue watching... I may have to set the building on fire...

(btw... the other movie is Hoosiers... Gotta watch until the "picket fence" is run. Grew up in Indiana. It's just something I have to watch...)

Gotta go put the cover sheets on the TPS reports... PC Load Letter? WTF is PC Load Letter?!?

Joe Grant (1908-2005) - Disney Legend

Joe Grant passed away yesterday. For those not up on the behind-the-scenes at FA, Mr. Grant has been involved in Feature Animation work since 1933, working as a conceptual artist beginning with Snow White. He was the only artist to work on both Fantasia's. He provided contributions to projects right up to Lorenzo, Monsters, Inc., and other modern projects. He was still a full-time employee of Feature Animation in his nineties and was in the office the day before his death. An incredible story.

Jim Hill has a nice remembrance, and Animation World Magazine has a nice interview from 1999. Interviews can also be found on the Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines DVD set.

Update (5/10/05): Save Disney now has a very nice tribute to this animation pioneer.

Tim Burton Strikes Back...

Tim Burton has many more hits than misses IMHO. This year looks to be another breakout year for the mastermind behind some of my favorite movies. Burton brought us (among others) the good Batman movies (although I have very high hopes for the new one), Edward Scissorhands, James and the Giant Peach, Beetlejuice, and, of course, The Nightmare Before Christmas (one of my all-time favs). Burton has two (count 'em) Johnny Depp movies on tap for the year... the heavily publicized Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in July (which looks quite good) and the stop-motion Corpse Bride in September (which also looks very good). Catch the trailers at the links above...

Coffee... Coffee... Coffee...

Mmmm.... Starbucks... Wonder if I type coffee stuff a lot here if the ad content will change from Disney to coffee... Side tangent alert... Let's give it a go, shall we...

Gevalia... java... Starbucks... Caffè Verona... Espresso Roast... Dark Roast... Green Mountain... Sumatra... Sulawesi... Folgers... Nescafe... (ick...) Frappuccino... Kona... mild roast... breakfast blend... tall... grande... venti... (why not small, medium, large... geesh...) Chock Full 'o Nuts... Espresso Macchiato... Caffè Americano... Espresso con Panna... Caffè Latte... Caffé Misto... Café Au Lait...

Did it work? Guess we'll find out...

Everybody run!!! It's the attack of the Tinker Bell!!!

Family in town (hers) and sickness in the family have hampered me somewhat from getting new stuff out here. Apologies (as if anyone cares!! ;)). Now I have coffee and an inspiration (due to reading a blog from a like minded cheapquel hater like myself). Matt detailed the list of new cheapquel projects in the pipe for the next few years, and one ("The Tinker Bell Movie") reminded me of an article that I saw a while back (that I can't seem to find now... grr... maybe it was in print and not on the computer... Disney Magazine, perhaps?) detailing the plans for Tinker Bell. It appears that the plan is being brought to fruition...

In addition to the aforementioned movie, Disney Consumer Products has recently announced the autumn release of the book Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. Written by Ella Enchanted's Gail Carson Levine, it sounds like it will probably be a well written book for it's target, pre-teen girls. It will offer "dreamy, intricate illustrations [that] were inspired by the great tradition, craft and magic of early twentieth century European children's book illustration" written by "a master of the modern fairy tale." Nothing bad, right? Here's where it ties back to the article I read a year or so ago...

"This magical book is the literary cornerstone of Disney Fairies, a new collection of stories that invites girls into a world of enchantment and whimsy," Deborah Dugan, president of Disney Publishing Worldwide.

Ahhh... a new product line... shoulda known... The story introduces "the newest Never fairy, Prilla, as well as their friends Beck, Rani, Terence, and Mother Dove, and all of the tiny inhabitants of Fairy Haven." Expect a marketing push of toys, clothes, books, videos, etc. as DCP tries to create a new product line to sit along side the Fab Four, Pooh, Adventures and Princess lines. Since they have hit a wall in the Princess line and are reaching the end of the life-cycle (no new Animated Features, no new Princesses... duh...) , Disney is desperately looking for a new hook into the pre-teen girl market. Voila...

Look... I have no problem with Disney trying to create new product to suck in a new generation of girls or boys. Making $$$ is their business... without $$$ there is no Disney. I'm all about the capitalism! But why in the h$!! can't they create NEW product instead of rehashing old characters that we have a fondness for and blanding them out in out-of-character situations and taking away their mystique and specialness created in their origin (Ariel's series.... ugh...; Goofy movies... worse...; Cinderella spin-offs... painful...; etc.)?

Case in point as to how to do it right? Kim Possible. Create a fresh new character that is well-written and plotted and the fans will come. This series just ended it's original run and is likely the most popular thing on Disney TV. They developed an original character in an original situation, stole heavily from and made good fun of past spy shows (Bond, etc.), gave it all a good sense of humor and it worked. My kids love it... I love it... I have yet to find a person with kids who doesn't say that it is the one Disney cartoon on TV that they don't mind watching with their kids. Disney TV Animation can do it right if they are not milking a previously conceived character until the udder is empty.

But it looks like we'll be stuck with more Cinderella III's and Peter Pan XVII's. sigh...

How well do you know WDW?

Not a lot of time to post this week, but thought I'd drop a link to a fun trivia article published by the Orlando Sentinel detailing the amazing scope of the Florida property. Some of the facts they recount:

• 2,000 acres of turf. At three mowings a week, that adds up to 450,000 mower miles per year, or 18 trips around the Earth at the equator.
• Disney World bought about 150,000 gallons of paint -- enough to cover nearly 7,500 average sized homes – in 2004
• $1.7 million worms are ordered each year to feed animals at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

If you'd prefer a trivia quiz, they provide that too...